UFC 68: The Uprising

by: DarthMolen 1 year, 8 months, 2 weeks, 5 days, 8 hours, 8 minutes ago

Release Date:

3/4/2007

Company:

Zuffa Entertainment

Series:

UFC PPV

 

A couple notes before we go into the analysis of the different matches. Arlovski wins the “Arm Candy of the Night” award with the stunning brunette beauty that he brought to the fights. His cashmere shirt leaves much to be desired though. The night would not have been complete without the drunk old lady at the bar yelling over and over again at the top of her lungs during the Couture fight, “C’mon OLD MAN!!! C’mon OLD MAN!!!”. Anderson Silva is a class act. After the Rich Franklin fight, he came up and was very gracious, congratulating Rich on the win. They even showed him before the match predicting the win for Rich. Class between competitors like that is what sets this sport apart from other venues like boxing, etc. Anyways, lets return to the matches at hand.

Renato “Babalu” Sobral vs. Jason Lambert
The night started out with Babalu and Jason Lambert. Jason is 5’10” and at 205 he appears like a walking fireplug. Sobral on the other hand looks like the prototypical fighter with his 6’1” height and tattooed arms. Both look like they are ready to fight.

Round one begins with Babalu swinging for the fences right from the start, lands some low kicks, and secures a takedown. Renato stays in the drivers seat with some hits from up top and eventually secures Lambert’s back. Jason defends the rear naked choke for a bit and eventually reverses the situation. They then stand after awhile and start to trade shots. Jason Lambert appears to be winning the stand up game by landing a few well placed hooks that land before Renato can land his shots. Renato wins round one by virtue of the initial takedown.

Round two starts with a flurry of combos from Jason Lambert that results in a great takedown. Jason is very active from in the guard and continually works body, body, head. Eventually they get stood up and Renato goes for a lazy knee where his hands drop and Jason immediately throws a nasty left hook that knocks Sobral to the canvas and out. Jason Lambert wins by KO.

Matt Hughes vs. Chris Lytle
Chris comes out looking a little nervous, Matt comes out to his customary country music. The crowd roars as Matt enters the ring and is clearly the crowd favorite.

Round one starts and Chris throws a flurry of combos in a fit of nervous energy. He then attempts to jump guard and throw a guillotine that looks pretty tight but Matt eventually slips out. Matt secures side mount and starts to stifle Chris working for the crucifix but Lytle doesn’t give it to him and uses his arm to cover the side that Matt is working. Chris is very limber and gets a weird leg lock on Matt’s head by working his legs up around Matt’s neck from behind. The round ends with Matt trying for an armbar. Matt wins round one by dominating Chris

Round two has Matt getting a double leg on Chris and taking him to the mat again. Matt continues to dominate from side mount with him eventually securing a full mount against the cage near the end of the round. Chris eventually engineers a slick reversal by leveraging the cage with his feet and flipping over his head with him landing on top for a brief time. Matt clearly dominated the second round.

Round three is much of the same. Matt secures the takedown and gets side mount and then proceeds to hold his opponent down. He tries to isolate the opposite arm a couple times but is unsuccessful. The crowd goes impatient and Matt then goes for knee on belly in an effort to pass and starts to punch Chris on the ground in an effort to loosen him up but is unsuccessful. The round ends with Matt Hughes the obvious winner.

Matt Hughes wins by decision 30-27 x 3.

Rich Franklin vs. Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald
Rich Franklin comes out with a huge pre-existing mouse underneath his eye but looks very collected. Jason comes out his usual self, a little nervous, but very energetic and happy to be in the Octagon.

Round one starts with the strategies becoming very obvious. Rich wants to keep the fight standing and Jason wants to take it to the ground. Every time Rich throws a punch Jason starts to shoot in instead of standing and trading. Jason does secure a single leg but Rich utilizes his balance to keep him up on his feet and eventually escapes. Rich then throws some good connecting hits but Jason doesn’t stay engaged. Rich gets some knees in and eventually throws him against the cage. They go to the ground and Rich employs some GNP from up top. MacDonald gets up and eventually secures a single leg that takes Rich down. Rich reverses but the round ends. Rich wins the first round.

Round two starts with a single leg try by Jason MacDonald. He then goes for a flying triangle but is unsuccessful. Rich lands in side control and utilizes the knees to the kidney to loosen Jason up. Rich then mounts with Jason squirming underneath. Jason is forced by blows to turn away and Rich secures the back. Rich then just lets fly some awesome left right combos to Jason’s head. One particular nasty left leaks through as Jason tried to roll away. The bell rings with Herb Dean stepping in and when Jason gets up and goes to the corner, his coach then throws in the towel.

Rich Franklin wins by TKO due to strikes.

Martin Kampmann vs. Drew McFedries
There is some ambient time to kill due to two short matches to they cut to a preliminary match. It isn’t quite as obvious though because a majority of the Ohio crowd is already in their seats watching the fights (which doesn’t happen in Las Vegas).

Round one begins with Drew throwing bombs. He gets some nasty combos off that rock Martin’s world and forces him to clinch. Martin then performs a hip throw from the clinch and lands in side mount. Drew is in trouble. Martin works the side mount and rotates 180 degrees to the opposite side. Drew doesn’t defend so Martin tucks his head underneath Drew’s arm and immediately hops across McFedries body securing the arm triangle. Martin then applies the pressure by rotating his body out clockwise which forces Drew’s own arm against the side of his head and cuts off all the oxygen to Drew’s brain and renders him unconscious. Martin Kampmann wins by Submission due to an arm triangle.

Tim Silvia vs. Randy Couture
There isn’t much to write about this match. Randy comes out looking supremely confident, Silvia comes out his normal self but refuses to look over at Randy except for once.

Round ones starts with a flurry that has Randy landing a nasty right that knocks Silvia to the ground. Randy immediately pounces and then proceeds to work Tim over. He literally holds him there the whole time working GNP for the whole round. Randy wins the round by domination.

Round two starts and Randy gets a single. Silvia’s base isn’t wide enough and Randy takes him to the ground. Randy again applies the GNP from the guard and half guard and does that all round with very little reply from Silvia.

Round three Randy changes tactics and stands with Silvia, he lands some nasty lefts and rights but refuses to play with Tim’s jabs. He uses constant head movement to throw Tim off and doesn’t allow the jab to land. Tim is afraid to throw any kicks because of the takedowns that Randy has been doing all match. Randy wins the round again. Tim looks overmatched and defeated.

Round four starts and Randy gets a great takedown from a clinch by utilizing an inside leg trip. Tim eventually gets up after eating some shots but Randy immediately goes for a double leg and is successful. He gets side mount. He eventually uses strikes to move to full mount position but Tim gets out. Randy wins the fourth round by totally dominating Tim.

Round five is much of the same. Randy is scoring takedowns at will. The GNP that he has been applying is starting to become evident on Tim’s face and he has a huge subdermal hematoma above his left eye. Tim is weary and gives up full mount to Randy and allows him to rain down blows. Randy wins round five in a dominating fashion yet again.

Randy wins by decision 50-45 x 3 and is the new Heavyweight UFC champion at 43 years old!!!